dumb question

Ok I am showing my ignorance here but I hope someone will answer this for me. I know with a pistol you have to rack the slide to load a round in the chamber before it will fire. With a revolver with all the chambers loaded do you have to pull the hammer back before you fire the first round? I know revolvers do not usually have a manual safety.

Your answer is yes and no and sometimes. To fire a double action revolver, you just have to squeeze the trigger. A double action revolver also gives you the option of cocking the hammer manually to shoot and usually gives a lighter trigger pull.

A single action revolver must be cocked before every shot to rotate the cylinder.

A DAO (double action only) revolver can only be fired by squeezing the trigger. Often, but not always, they have a "bobbed" (shortened) hammer and sometimes, the hammer isn't even exposed.

I realize this may seem confusing, so I suggest you do some research on Single action, double action and double action only revolvers.

Examples of Single Action would be the Ruger Blackhawk series of revolvers.

Double Action look at the Ruger GP100 revolvers.

DAO, check out some of the Smith & Wesson J frame revolvers like the Model 40.

Ok I am showing my ignorance here but I hope someone will answer this for me. I know with a pistol you have to rack the slide to load a round in the chamber before it will fire. With a revolver with all the chambers loaded do you have to pull the hammer back before you fire the first round? I know revolvers do not usually have a manual safety.

Click to expand...

Double action...no Single action...yes. Any pistol that has a DA or double action firing mechanism will cock and release the hammer with a single pull of the trigger, revolver or semi-auto. Racking of the slide usually accomplishes this but is actually loading a round from the magazine into the chamber. SA (single-action) pistols require the hammer to be manually cocked before firing. Some semi-auto pistols are SAO on the first shot, others are DA, still others are DAO all the time.

Not that I know of. The thought behind a D/A first shot is the prevention of negligent discharges. A long, relatively heavy D/A trigger pull for the first shot and lighter, shorter subsequent shots as you have fired once and wish to continue firing in a deliberate manner.

Originally Single action meant "One way to fire, Cock the hammer manually". Double action meant Two ways to fire. DAO just seems to be a misnomer to me.

Did a little morse research:
Single Action (S/A): The trigger does a single action of releasing a manually/mechanically cocked hammer.

Double Action (D/A): The trigger does two actions in sequence, 1st is to cock the hammer/striker, second is to allow release of the hammer/striker. Most in this category allows for the firearm to function as a single action (trigger releases the cocked hammer/striker).

Double Action Only (DAO): Basically does the same as the D/A, but does not allow for the S/A to function as there no way for the hammer/striker to be manually/mechanically cocked.

Some striker handguns will partially "cock" the striker when the slide is moved in loading the firearm, relying on the trigger to complete the D/A motion. Some striker handguns rely totally on the trigger to complete the D/A motion.

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And a fairly rare handgun from years back- the Webley-Fosberry Automatic Revolver. When hammer falls, revolver fires, recoil pushes barrel/cylinder back on the frame, causing cylinder to rotate, hammer to cock- so double action first shot, single action thereafter.

What those men achieved and established in their lifetimes, helped us enjoy the passion we share today. I consider myself a student as well. Probably a little bit behind, but I have a few decades to catch up.

I was basically referring to all these exotic, unconventional and unseen to most, guns that you seem to pop off and provide pictures to at will.